In general, the present invention relates to an image-display editing method, an image editing apparatus and a storage medium for storing a program for carrying out the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a man/machine interface for an image displaying and editing method.
In the conventional method of editing a plurality of pieces of image data, such as the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-117686, the user of an image edit system displays some or all frames of a plurality of pieces of image data, rearranges the frames along a time axis and connects the rear end of an image to the front end of another image in the process of editing the images. In addition, according to a method of editing an image program, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-46462, a plurality of pieces of image data and special-effect programs are displayed for each added track along the time axis in order to edit them as a single piece of image data.
In a method in which some or all frames of a plurality of pieces of image are displayed on a screen of an image editing system, some pieces of image data may be replaced by others. In this case, it is necessary to remove a replaced one and connect a replacement one to the remaining image data. As a result, the editing work becomes troublesome and requires a long time to complete. As for the method of editing an image program, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-46462, it is difficult to verify edit results, such as the order of playback of pieces of image data and a special effect performed at each image-data change-over, unless the edit results are played back. Thus, problems arise such as difficulty in using the method and a long time to complete the editing work.
It is thus an object of the present invention, in addressing the problems described above, to provide an image-display edit processing method, which is easy to use, so that the time it takes to carry out the editing of an image can be shortened, an image editing apparatus adopting the method and a storage medium for storing a program for implementing the method.
In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides an image-display edit processing method adopted in an image editing apparatus having a display unit for displaying image data. The method comprises:
a step of displaying a plurality of pieces of picture data each corresponding to a piece of image data on the display unit;
a step of inputting a command entered by the user and displaying display indicators representing a playback order to play back the pieces of image data by associating the display indicators with the displayed pieces of picture data in accordance with the command; and
a step of playing back the pieces of image data corresponding to the pieces of picture data in the playback order specified by the display indicators.
The plurality of pieces of image data can be controlled by an image file or a plurality of image files. In addition, the method for achieving the object is further provided with a step of displaying pieces of picture data by rearranging the pieces of picture data along a time axis in the playback order specified by the display indicators and playing back the pieces of image data corresponding to the pieces of picture data in the playback order. Moreover, the method for achieving the object also determines a special effect to be used at a change-over of image data based on a display attribute of the display indicators specifying the playback order. Furthermore, the method for achieving the object also determines a duration of a change-over of image data based on a display attribute of the display indicators specifying the playback order.
In addition, in order to achieve the object described above, the present, invention also provides an image-display edit processing method adopted in an image editing apparatus having a processing unit, a storage unit, a display unit and an input unit. The method comprises:
a step of displaying a plurality of pieces of picture data each corresponding to a piece of image data on the display unit;
a step of displaying display indicators specifying a display order in accordance with a command issued by the user on the displayed pieces of picture data; and
a step of playing back pieces of image data corresponding to/the displayed pieces of picture data in the playback order specified by the display indicators.
In addition, in the method for achieving the object, pieces of image data each corresponding to a piece of picture data are sequentially played back in said playback order specified by said display indicators before editing at least one piece of image data and storing the edited pieces of image data in the storage unit. Furthermore, in the method for achieving the object, the display indicators for specifying the playback order are each represented by a connecting line drawn from a piece of picture data to another piece of picture data. Moreover, in the method for achieving the object, the playback order is determined by the direction of an arrow on the connecting line. In addition, in the method for achieving the object, the type of the connecting line determines a special effect to be used at an image-data change-over time. Furthermore, in the method for achieving the object, the thickness of the connecting line determines a duration of a change-over of image data.
In addition, in order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides an image-display edit processing method adopted in an image editing apparatus having a display unit for displaying image data. The method comprises:
a step of displaying a plurality of pieces of picture data each corresponding to a piece of image data on the display unit;
a step of determining a playback order in accordance with an order in which the pieces of picture data are displayed, that is, a step of specifying pieces of picture data sequentially by typically clicking a mouse in a playback order desired by the user; and
a step of playing back pieces of image data corresponding to the pieces of picture data in the playback order determined at the above step.
In addition, in order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides an image editing apparatus having a display unit for displaying image data. The apparatus further comprises:
first display means for displaying a plurality of pieces of picture data each corresponding to a piece of image data on the display unit;
second display means for inputting a command entered by the user and displaying display indicators representing a playback order to play back the pieces of image data by associating the display indicators with the pieces of picture data in accordance with the command; and
playback means for playing back pieces of image data corresponding to the pieces of picture data in the playback order specified by the display indicators.
In addition, the apparatus for achieving the object is further provided with third display means for displaying pieces of picture data by rearranging the pieces of picture data along a time axis in the playback order specified by the display indicators and playing back the pieces of image data corresponding to the pieces of picture data in the playback order. Furthermore, the apparatus for achieving the object also determines a special effect to be used at time of image-data change-over and a duration of a change-over of image data on the basis of display attributes of the display indicators specifying the playback order. Moreover, in the apparatus for achieving the object, the second display means displays the display indicators representing a playback order on the displayed pieces of picture data. In addition, in the apparatus for achieving the object, the display indicators for specifying the playback order are each represented by a connecting line drawn from a piece of picture data to another piece of picture data. In addition, in the apparatus achieving the object, the type of the connecting line determines a special effect to be used at the time of an image-data change-over. It should be noted that an image-display editing program executed to carry out functions implemented by the methods and the apparatus described above can be stored in a storage medium.